I know what stopped me. My fear that she wouldn’t respect them. Which would mean she didn’t respect ME. And for a very long time I wasn’t willing to take that risk. For years, my fear kept me spinning in self-doubt and confusion about what I wanted....

One evening my husband and I were driving home from a concert and we were talking about something that triggered a memory: I must have been nine or ten years old and my family went to New Hampshire to visit my great-grandparents (my mother’s mother’s...

I received an interesting response to last week’s column (Grieving a mother who is still alive) and wanted to share it because it occurred to me that I AM NOT DOING MY JOB if anyone who reads my books/columns/newsletter believes that they have to wait for...

Imagine me reading this to your mother…or, if you’d like to hear me read it, click here. Also, your mother may be mentally ill, addicted, and/or have a personality disorder that prevents her from having the empathy and ability to hear and receive this...

I wrote this in response to a query from a writer for Martha Stewart magazine who was looking for answers from women 50+ to this question: What’s the #1 piece of advice you’d like to tell your younger self? My answer wasn’t used, so I am sharing it...

Question from a reader: How do I let go of my fear of disappointing my mother? And why is it so scary? Dear you: FODO (Fear Of Disappointing Others) is real. It’s so real that it can often stop us in our tracks, keep us from setting boundaries, and make us do...